Introduction
Four Corners Wine Company are experts in Californian fine wine, and a case study in how specialisation is able to grow a strong reputation and an equally strong business. Implementing Wine Hub was a key milestone following rapid growth, providing the tools and visibility to improve operational efficiency, and off the back of those improvements to deliver a consistently excellent customer experience.
Requirements
Co-founders Stuart Young and Matt Thompson launched Four Corners having recognised the gap for Californian wines within the UK market.
Realising a strong demand from the get-go, the business grew quickly. That growth meant that the legacy tools, processes and sales channels, which were largely disconnected and manual, became unsustainable.
They knew self-auditing with disparate systems was not going to work and needed a technology solution to harmonise their operations, handle storage and provide live, accurate information for their team, their clients and their winery suppliers.
That was a big thing for us, the time saved. You can get everything done through the Hub so quickly and succinctly that you’re saving literally hours and hours each week.
Platform Selection
Stuart and Matt investigated Salesforce and a few other solutions, but were drawn to the Wine Hub due to its wine industry-specific focus, understanding of the market, and industry-specific elements and workflows. Matt Thompson explains,
‘A huge attraction to us was the wine industry experience within the team. There was an inherent understanding of what people were going to want, what the demands were going to be, what the pitfalls would be.’
As importers, finding a system that could support and enhance their reputation with the wineries they represent was key.
Solution
Since implementing the Wine Hub, Four Corners experienced an early return on their investment thanks to the hours of time no longer spent manually entering data through Excel, which frees up team members to spend more time with customers. With this comes the confidence the team now have in terms of there being one system, with workflows linking all their activities together.
‘The Hub’s given us phenomenal depth in terms of tracking. We can follow everything from collection of wine in California, shipping, landing, and reconciling receipt at LCB, on rotation, and have this all in harmony with what’s showing on the website and what we want listed.’
Lack of control over inventory is a common pain point for many wine merchants and importers. Four Corners felt that they particularly benefited from the Hub’s inventory management and industry-specific workflows for their allocations, which need to be accurate at all times. As Matt says “It’s so important to have that right because if it’s gone, it’s gone.”
A favourite function amongst the team is the ability to edit wines and producer pages with precision and depth from anywhere within the platform and edit the wine nomenclature or producer details.
The Four Corners team go to great efforts to represent their wineries as they themselves would like. The Hub enables importers to project and promote their agencies thanks to an industry-specific products digital asset database.
Using online to grow relationships
Finding the right eCommerce solution was critical for Four Corners for a number of reasons.
Firstly, their previous solution was separate from their inventory and other systems and required continuous manual intervention to adapt data and find workarounds.
Secondly they needed a high quality website, with a depth of content and accurate stock representation, to serve as an extension of the in-person ‘white glove’ service they usually provide, as they recognise customers expect the option to engage both directly and through online channels at a time that suits them.
Thirdly, and very importantly, was implementing an eCommerce solution that enabled them to represent the wines online exactly as their highly valued wineries would want.
Having the exposure via the website invites new clients in and has given way to ongoing relationships and long-term clients.
Since they started operating their eCommerce through the Wine Hub, co-founders Stuart and Matt praise the smoother experience for clients, and the administrative improvements, such as the ability and freedom to edit names and create in-depth producer information. This high standard of producer representation has established Four Corners as a trusted partner with meticulous attention to the sort of detail that matters so much to producers.
A specialists perspective
Having a strong passion for a specific region of wine isn’t enough to sustain a successful wine importing business. As the Four Corners team explains, it’s an accumulation of trust, allocations direct from their agencies, the trade learning and buying from you, and the client base purchasing, drinking and appreciating the quality across the Four Corners’ portfolio.
Full interview with Matt Thompson
Access the full interview with co-founder Matt Thompson, who shares exactly what it takes to run a reputable, successful wine specialist business.